1956 Saskatchewan general election

1956 Saskatchewan general election

June 20, 1956 (1956-06-20)
53 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan 27 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   LIB SC Leader Tommy Douglas Alexander McDonald — Party Co-operative Commonwealth Liberal Social Credit Leader since July 17, 1942 November 26, 1954 — Leader's seat Weyburn Moosomin — Last election 42 11 0 Seats won 36 14 3 Seat change 6 3 3 Popular vote 249,634 167,427 118,491 Percentage 45.3% 30.3% 21.5% Swing 8.8pp 8.9pp 17.6pp
Premier before election Tommy Douglas Co-operative Commonwealth Premier after election Tommy Douglas Co-operative Commonwealth

The 1956 Saskatchewan general election, the thirteenth in the province's history, was held on June 20, 1956, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan. The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation government of Premier Tommy Douglas was re-elected to a fourth consecutive majority government.

Summary

Tommy Douglas' Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) secured a majority government, despite its share of the popular vote decreasing close to 10%. The party won 6 fewer seats than it had in the 1952 election. The election victory secured a fourth term in office.

The Liberal Party of Alexander H. McDonald also lost votes, but picked up an additional three seats.

The Social Credit Party rebounded from its poor results in previous elections, surging to win over 21% of the popular vote. However, because this vote was widely distributed across the province, the party won only 3 seats in the legislature under the British parliamentary first-past-the-post system.

Results

Party		Party Leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular Vote
				1952	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Tommy Douglas	53	42	36	-14.3%	249,634	45.25%	-8.81%
	Liberal	Alexander McDonald	52	11	14	+27.3%	167,427	30.34%	-8.93%
	Social Credit		53	–	3		118,491	21.48%	+17.58%
	Progressive Conservative	Alvin Hamilton	9	–	–	–	10,921	1.98%	+0.01%
	Independent		2	–	–	–	4,714	0.85%	+0.57%
	Labor–Progressive		2	–	–	–	536	0.10%	-0.11%
Total			171	53	53	–	551,723	100%
Source: Elections Saskatchewan

Percentages

Popular vote CCF   45.25% Liberal   30.34% Social Credit   21.48% PC   1.98% Others   0.95%

Seats summary CCF   67.92% Liberal   26.42% Social Credit   5.66%

See also

• List of political parties in Saskatchewan
• List of Saskatchewan provincial electoral districts